One man on a blogging mission

Menu

Monthly Archives: March 2017

There’s no doubt that short term loans can help many people, but there are risks associated with them. One of the biggest dangers is to your credit rating, and here are a few points that you should look out for when it comes to these types of loans.

Only Borrow What You Can Afford from Same Day Loans

Because you have to pay the money back at the end of the month, you should only borrow what you can afford. This means looking at your monthly income and outgoings. The problem for many people is that they know they need to borrow a certain amount and don’t worry about the consequences.

Borrowing too much will overstretch your budget and then you’ll struggle to pay the money back at the end of the month. This could lead to you needing an extension or another same day loan. This will only lead to problems and one of those is a bad effect on your credit rating.

Don’t Take Out Lots of Short Term Loans

Yes, taking out one of these loans could help you improve your credit rating but taking out a lot will have the opposite effect. Something that you really need to think about is how you’ll look to other lenders when they see your credit report.

Most same day loans that you take out will appear on your report, along with the date that you signed for them. This is especially the case for those that you apply for over the Internet. Other lenders will see this and start to think you’re overstretching your budget. You’ll be seen as a high risk lender and will find that you can’t get credit anywhere else. Think about the amount of money that you’re borrowing and limit it as much as possible.

Bounced Check Fees from the Lender and Your Bank

If you do take out more than you can afford, you’ll end up with bounced check fees from both the lender and the bank. This will also affect your credit rating because it will show up. You’ll be seen as an irresponsible person financially and it will affect the chance of getting credit in the future.

You’ll need to be careful with how much money you have and make sure you only borrow what you can afford. Never take out the total amount of your paycheck and always make sure you make a budget to find out just how much you can afford to borrow.

Some short term loans are helpful, but only if you are sensible. Only take one out if you need the loan for an emergency and make sure that you pay it back on time. Just keeping it for an extra day can do a lot of damage and you’ll also find that you end up paying a lot more money back in the long term.

It’s a Catch-22, really. You need a good job so that you can get yourself out of the mess you are in and get your bills caught up. Yet, you get turned down for a good job on the basis of a credit report. Seems like a vicious cycle that you can’t break out of!!! There has got to be a way to clean up your credit report, so that you can do things with your life again. What is really scary is that research has shown that error rates on credit reports generated by the three major reporting agencies can run as high as 40%! So, your quality of life may be impaired needlessly.

Before you learn how to repair your credit, learn about the hoops that the credit reporting agencies make you jump through, discover your legal rights in correcting the credit agencies’ data, or learn the strategies to use in your communications with them, you first must learn what the credit bureaus are saying about you. You MUST get your credit reports – all three of them. The three major credit reporting agencies probably have a report on you. You must see for yourself what’s on each of these three reports. If you have been recently denied credit, you are entitled to a free copy of your report, but it may only come from one of the three bureaus.

This site will walk you through downloading each of the three credit reports. You can order your credit score from each of the three agencies for about $9 per report.

When you have your reports in hand, the next step is to print and copy them; giving you one original, one working copy to make notes on, and one copy to mail out as needed.

The reports can be puzzling to read, so give yourself a break and devote a couple of days to reading the instructions and contents of each report. The reports should have some instructions to help you decipher the information on the report. By the way, if you take the time to get your credit reports and analyze them, you are way ahead of over half of the people who really need help, but who do nothing to help themselves.

Using your “mark-up” or working copy and two different colors of markers or highlighters, start looking for mistakes on the report. Scan through all of your personal information at the top of the report: name (and previous names used),current employer and previous employment, Social Security number, address and previous addresses, date of birth, and any other information. Choose one color to use for mistakes, such as mis-spellings, transposed numbers, etc. Using the other color, circle or highlight all derogatory credit entries. Once you are finished with the personal information section, do the same for the other sections of the report: Public Records and Judgements; Inquiries; and Consumer Accounts. You will probably find many mistakes, such as company names that you don’t recognize. Keep in mind that corporations may use many fictitious names and use an unfamiliar name for reporting purposes. Check the start and last activity dates of the accounts in question and the account number to determine if this is your account or an error in reporting.

Once you have checked the reports from all three bureaus, make a list of all items that show mistakes. A spreadsheet program is a wonderful tool for formatting this information into an easy to read report. You are now ready to “face your enemy on the field of battle”.

The law that gives you the right to dispute items on your credit report that you believe to be in error is called the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This law forces the credit bureau to verify with the creditor (or other reporting party) any information that the consumer disputes. The easiest items to dispute are old accounts (more than five years old) with high dollar values that were paid late. It is best to pick and choose which items that you are going to dispute, rather than to question everything on the report. You have more of a chance of winning the disputes and raising your credit score if you are choosy, and pick items that are easily contested.

The best way to submit disputes is by mail, with delivery confirmation/return receipt service. The extra charge is worth saving the time and effort if the credit bureau claims: “We never got your dispute letter”. In your dispute letter, include the name of the creditor, account number, your Social Security number and date of birth. It is best to include a copy of your “mark up copy” of your credit report, with the disputed account(s) circled. Here are the addresses of the three major credit bureaus:

Forget about disputing by telephone or online. To be effective, you must have a written record, with a hard copy proof of receipt. Remember that any items that the credit bureau cannot verify with the creditor MUST be removed from your report. Once disputed items start coming off, you can watch your score start to climb!